Abdul ibn Farouk

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Abdul ibn Farouk[edit]

Refresh: 4

Fate Points: 4


Background:[edit]

Gender: Male
Age: 17 years
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 155 lbs.

Appearance: Abdul is a somewhat attractive, but otherwise unremarkable looking young man. He is trying to grow a beard, but it is still somewhat scruffy. He tries to dress the way he imagines a dashing adventurer would: dark, “mysterious” clothes, a black cloak, and a few pieces of jewelry stolen from tombs.

Character History: Abdul ibn Faroukh is the nephew of a famous storyteller, Hakim ibn Mandhur, who is in demand to perform his art in many parts of Cairo, including among the movers and shakers. The old man took the boy on as an apprentice and taught him many of his stories, hoping Abdul would follow in his footsteps. Abdul could be a good storyteller if he applied himself, but he doesn’t and Haikim now despairs of Abdul doing anything productive with his life. Abdul is a good-natured boy but is rather exactly lazy and lacks good sense. He has perhaps taken his uncle’s stories too seriously. Rather than wanting to tell stories, Abdul wants to be in stories that others will tell by becoming a swashbuckling adventurer. One of Abdul’s childhood friends, Jamal, a street urchin who has grown up to be a skilled thief, has taught Abdul some of the tricks of his trade. Abdul has proven to have a natural talent for all things related to larceny. However, Abdul manages to remain oblivious to the shadier aspects of what Jamal does, unable to think badly of someone he has been friends with for as long as he can remember. Rather than using his skills to steal from the living, Abdul has used them to do what he thinks a great adventurer might do--break into ancient tombs and explore them, taking precious items from them. He uses his connections in Cairo’s shadier neighborhoods to fence various items he steals from the tombs, but then usually spends all the money, whether on drink for himself or to help out poor people in his neighborhood in need. Abdul has often approached one of his uncle’s friends, the historian Nasir ibn Sadiq, with questions about what he has seen. From Nasir, Abdul has learned a great deal of history, both Egyptian and world, including how to decipher ancient Eyptian hieroglyphics. Nasir is also a Sufi mystic and an occultist, interested in the magical traditions of the ancient world and part of a Sufi order devoted to protecting them from falling into the wrong hands. He has passed some of this knowledge onto Abdul, as well as training him in Sufi mysticism and ethics. Nasir has no notion of Abdul’s adventures among the tombs and thinks that he is cultivating a potential young scholar and Sufi, not a would-be adventurer. He does, however, recognize that the boy often lacks good sense and so the occult knowledge he has given him is all theoretical, nothing that would let Abdul easily work magic.


Character Picture:[edit]

Abdul ibn Farouk.jpg


Aspects:[edit]

High Concept: Thrill-Seeking Amateur Tomb Raider: Abdul has explored many ancient Egyptian tombs, looking for lost artifacts. He has no formal training as a tomb raider, archaeologist or anything of the sort, being largely self-taught. He is driven not so much by greed as by curiosity and the thrill of adventure. He would rather explore someplace new, even if there are no riches to be had, than go into someplace well explored, but where there still might be treasure for the taking.

  • Invoke for exploration, especially of ancient ruins, and knowledge of the past.
  • Compel to have Abdul explore ruins or follow his curiosity or engage in thrill-seeking behavior in ways that are unwise or get in the way of something else that needs to be done. Compel when the fact that he is largely self-taught works against him.

Trouble: Always in Trouble with Someone or Other: From a very young age, Abdul was constantly getting in trouble with one groups of people or another, being arrested by the police, offending a colonial official, crossing criminal gangs, treading on the territory of tomb-robbing gangs and the like. Sometimes this is because he is oblivious to danger, sometimes because he overestimates his own abilities, sometimes because he boasts too much, sometimes because he is disrespectful to those who see themselves as his betters. It often seems like Abdul has learned nothing from his misadventures as he continues to get into trouble--but he has gotten very good at getting out of trouble as well.

  • Invoke when the past troubles he’s been in would give him insight into the current situation he’s in, especially getting out of a jam.
  • Compel when his past troubles catch up with him in the form of having to deal with someone he’s angered in the past or when his past reputation hurts him. Also simply to get him in trouble with a group of people, especially when a little more forethought or good sense would keep him out of such trouble.


The Storyteller’s Daydreaming Apprentice: In working as his uncle Hakim’s apprentice, Abdul has absorbed many of his uncle Hakim’s swashbuckling tales about great adventurers of old. While Abdul has gained a basic proficiency in telling such tales, he has his head a bit in the clouds as a result of absorbing too many of them. He not only wants to be a great, swashbuckling adventurer, but thinks of himself as one. While he is very adept at exploring old tombs, he has little real experience with other parts of adventuring such as combat. Despite his deficiencies as an apprentice, Abdul is devoted to his uncle and would do anything to help him.

  • Invoke to draw on the knowledge of his uncle’s stories or to engage in swashbuckling feats of derring-do like in the old stories.
  • Compel to make judgements about a situation more based on fantasy than reality, leading to poor decisions that get Abdul in over his head. To help his uncle if Hakim is having troubles.


Layabout with a Heart of Gold: When it comes to anything besides exploring ruins, Abdul is lazy. He has no interest in doing an honest day’s work. This does not mean, however, he is selfish. He is in fact quite free in helping other people, often spending the limited money he has gained from his tomb-raiding adventures to help out others in trouble. What money he doesn’t spend on others, he spends on drink and other indulgences for himself. Consequently, people in Cairo who know him have a mixed opinion of him. Some see him as a lazy good-for-nothing, while others view him as a fine boy of good character who hasn’t found his direction in life yet.

  • Invoke in cases where his reputation for generosity or past favors he’s done gives Abdul a leg up in dealing with someone.
  • Compel when his reputation as a lazy good-for-nothing works against him or his generosity in helping others out gets him involved deeply with their troubles.


Grew Up on the Streets of Cairo: Abdul grew up wandering the streets of Cairo. He knows the city, its streets, markets, buildings and its people, rich and poor, like the back of his hand. He is, however, definitely a street rat and more than few people regard his as nothing more than riff-raff.

  • Invoke to make his way through the city or use his knowledge of it, such as to make contacts, to lose himself in the crowd, to know just where to find something or someone, etc.
  • Compel to have people, especially the more well-to-do, look down on him because of his status as a street rat.


A Little Mystical Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing: Abdul is always curious to learn more about the world, especially about the past and occult secrets. Indeed, this was what got him into being a tomb-raider more than greed--to dig up secrets of the past himself. He values his relationships with both his uncle Hakim and the scholar and the Sufi and occultist Nasir in part because of all that they have taught him. Abdul is so eager to learn more, he can be reckless. He is intellectually aware that occult knowledge can be dangerous, but he doesn’t seem himself as capable of accidentally misusing this knowledge. Nasir has been careful not to teach him anything of real power and to ground his education in Sufi ethics, but that doesn’t mean Abdul is not seeking this knowledge out on his own--and that he would not experiment with it if he got his hands on it.

  • Invoke in situations where knowledge, especially about the past, the occult, or mysticism and Islam would come in useful. When Nasir’s Sufi teachings might help Abdul resist the temptation to do something wrong (though not necessarily something foolish).
  • Compel to investigate occult knowledge, especially secrets best left buried or things humanity was not meant to know--or to actively use such knowledge to see what happens. To help his mentor Nasir if he gets in trouble.



Skills:[edit]

Superb (+5) Burglary

Great (+4) Stealth

Good (+3) Athletics, Investigate

Fair (+2) Deceive, Mysteries, Rapport

Average (+1) Fight, Physique, Shoot, Will


Stress:[edit]

Physical O O O O

Mental O O O O


Consequences:[edit]

Mild [2]: _________________________

Moderate [4]: _________________________

Severe [6]: _______________________



Stunts:[edit]

Always a Way Out: +2 on Burglary rolls made to create an advantage whenever you’re trying to escape from a location.

Contortionist: You can fit into and through spaces and shapes that no normal human readily can. Normally, contorting tasks are impossible to attempt, or at best default to a (non-existent) Contortion skill rated at Mediocre. With this stunt, you can use your full Athletics score instead, and have rationale to attempt feats of contortion that are simply unavailable to others. (Spirit of the Century, p. 126).

Popular: If you’re in an area where you’re popular and well-liked, you can use Rapport in place of Contacts. You may be able to establish your popularity by spending a fate point to declare a story detail, or because of prior justification.

Scales of Fate (Mysteries): Once per scene, if you accept a compel you may make a minor declaration--similar to creating a situation aspect with a fate point--about some lucky contrivance or coincidence that occurs in your favor. This declaration does not require the expenditure of a fate point or any kind of roll--it just happens. (Strange Tales of the Century, p. 488)

Secrets of the Past: Your investigation into ancient secrets has given you a broad knowledge of history. You may roll Mysteries instead of Lore on matters related to history, archaeology and ancient languages, including deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Slippery Target: Provided you’re in darkness or shadow, you can use Stealth to defend against Shoot attacks from enemies that are at least one zone away.



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